What the Heck is THIS?

[ramp83]

Howdy, Folks!

For the first time I'm trying out NAM.  I have SC4 updated with NAM 34 installed.

I was "playing in the sandbox" to figured things out when the hole in the attached graphic appeared.  I had just clicked to place a NWM transition and BOOM!  And, you can't bridge over it.

I looked, and did not see an "Anti-Matter" or "Black Hole" disaster installed.

HELP?!?!?!

Thanks!
Buddy
Fort Worth, TX

[InvisiChem]

Wow, haven't seen that bug in a long time. Searching right now to find the old name for it and its cause. Some here might remember off the top of their heads though.

[Andreas]

It's nicknamed "Sinkhole to China bug", and clearly a NAM-modding related bug. Post it in the NAM bugreport thread along with a description how you triggered it, then the NAM team can have a look.

[eggman121]

Hello ramp83

The problem you are having can only be mitigated if you have the ground precisely flat. That is no bumps whatsoever. Using the road tool should help you achieve that by plopping single segments together.

Puzzle Pieces have those quirks. We are trying to eliminate them but that will take a while.

-eggman121 (NAM Team Member)

[APSMS]

Known as the "Sinkhole to China" bug. It's what happens when an unruly puzzle or starter piece gets placed on unfavorable ground (not flat enough).

To fix, open up the god mode terraforming (or mayor mode, but god mode is free and works better). Select the level terrain brush (that makes everything the level of the center cursor).

Use Shift + 3 or 4 to change the size, and Shift + F5 to change the strength to maximum. Find a convenient spot just off to the side of the hole, and drag over to the hole until it's flat, along with the immediate surrounding area (or it will happen again). Then re-plop the piece in the flat spot, and continue as normal.

A slope mod might help somewhat, preventing you from placing most pieces on slopes that are too steep, but it's not really a guarantee. The NAM tries to iron out the bugs that cause this. Post in the NAM Issues Thread with which piece caused the problem, so they can tell you if they can fix it in a future release (or not; some pieces are finicky like that). That's where you should be posting any NAM/transit related issues, mostly because the response time is highest there (and because it prevents more of these random bug threads from propagating to an unmanageable level. But you're fine with this one.

EDIT: Boy am I slow. I was ninja'd thrice!

[Andreas]

You might have been slow, but provided an excellent explanation and workaround, so props for that.

[Tarkus]

Which transition is it?  We can take a look at it if we know which one.  Additionally, most of the NWM transitions that are around do have draggable forms as well.  Usually, they're built using a stub-to-stub method.  That might be the most ideal solution.

-Alex